The invention relates to thermal barrier coatings made from ceramic materials on metallic parts. In particular, the invention relates to a thermal procedure that improves the spallation resistance of a thermal barrier coating.
Metal components in the hottest section of modern gas turbine engines typically operate at temperatures that exceed their melting point. To circumvent this problem, the components are prevented from overheating by cooling air flowing through internal passageways in the components and by having external surfaces that are insulated with ceramic thermal barrier coatings. The addition of thermal barrier coatings reduces the amount of cooling air required and can substantially increase engine efficiency.
Common ceramic thermal barrier coatings are zirconias. Zirconias, in particular, yttria stabilized zirconia, containing 7 weight percent yttria, e.g., 7YSZ offer significant thermal protection and, in addition, are resistant to spallation, presumably due to the high fracture toughness of the material. The thermal conductivities of zirconia thermal barrier coatings, however, are not as satisfactory as gadolinia zirconia coatings. In particular, gadolinia zirconia coatings containing 59 weight percent GdO3 and 41 weight percent ZrO2 exhibit thermal conductivities that are about one half the thermal conductivity of zirconia coatings. Unfortunately, they can sometimes exhibit lower spallation resistance that limits their application.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,470 to Ulion et al. teaches that a 7YSZ layer between a GdZr thermal barrier coating and an underlying superalloy substrate can increase the spallation resistance of the coating but also increases weight and adds cost of an extra processing step.